April | 2016 | VeniVidiEdi

I love mushrooms. It will never replace beef or anything proteinaceous, but it’s a good alternative. I will take portobello burgers over regular burgers anytime!

I typically like my risotto rich and creamy—that means ungodly amounts of butter, cream and cheese. I already made my sinful Beef and Potato Casserole for lunch so I am tapped out for cheese and cream.

D tries to avoid meats in weekends. If I have to tempt him, he will oblige to chicken, that’s it. So I make him meatless dishes whenever I can.

Cast of characters: aroborio rice(2cups), shitake and button mushrooms, shallots, 1 cup chicken stock, white wine (not in photo)

saute chopped shallots and mushrooms. I just break up the big pieces, not too small, I want it "meaty" looking. About 7 minutes. — saute chopped shallots and mushrooms. I just break up the big pieces, not too small, I want it “meaty” looking. About 7 minutes.

This is one of my one-pot recipes so that’s why i’m using a sauce pot instead of a frying pan. If you still haven’t figured this out from me, I am really lazy in doing uninteresting things i.e. washings pots and pans.

then comes my favorite ingredient, white wine! About 3/4 cups, scrub the bottom of pan to scrape up flavors.

Add the chicken stock plus about 2 C of water. Bring to boil, then drop the arborio rice.

There are some recipes of risotto that makes you cover the pot then walk away. I find those make the rice really mushy, for some reason. So I keep mine open and stir it from time to time. This would cook for about 25-30min in medium flame.

For the mean time, I sauté marinated chicken breast. This is a no-brainer, so it won’t get an individual post. Cut chicken breast to desired size, marinate in olive oil and favorite herbs for about an hour. Saute. I use these chunks to top in salads, risotto or pasta.

Don't wait till all the liquid dries up before turning off heat. Unless you serve it right away, you will need all the moisture to keep rice from drying out. — Don’t wait till all the liquid dries up before turning off heat. Unless you serve it right away, you will need all the moisture to keep rice from drying out.

This turned out perfect!

I can't resist putting some parmesan on top, even if I promised myself no more cheese for the day. I drizzled some balsamic vinegar on top. — I can’t resist putting some parmesan on top, even if I promised myself no more cheese for the day. I drizzled some balsamic vinegar on top.

Poured some red wine and D’s dinner is served. Am i the best wife ever, or what???

There was a lot of rain last night so Houston woke up to a flood of epic proportions. Bayous were filled way past the brim, breaking records that stood 500 years. Yup, it’s that bad. As a result, the clinic decided to close and so did the school districts and a lot of offices. All three of us are all under one roof to weather the storm!

Unplanned stay-ins like this is always welcome, even if we didn’t really do much except watch the weather channel on TV and marvel on how lucky we are that all it really means to us that our pool is filled and there are some areas in the lawn that are soaked. I wish I could say the same for the rest of Houston…

So what should we eat? Always a burning question in this household. I had a lot of prepared food, thinking that we were all going to be out today for school and work. To my dismay, my two boys were not keen on nuking out anything. So for lunch, I converted the roast chicken to my usual Lemon Chicken Soup with Wild Rice. Easy enough, one meal down.

For dinner, I decided to make my Left Over Salad.